Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Sand.
Hi Jared, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Born in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern Tennessee, Mountain Soundsystems’s founder has been driven by two things from the earliest of ages, nature and music. Nestled between the Blue Ridge and Great Smokey Mountains his childhood was spent exploring Appalachia’s lush landscapes and listening to music. This primarily came from the family’s vinyl collection, an eclectic collection of classical greats, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Brahms, Mozart, Shubert, Lizst, and various 60s rock stables, The Rolling Stones and the Doors notably. Around this time he also started study with the piano, which unknown to him would turn into a lifelong pursuit. Ironically, at first the piano, and notably practice was much more of a labor than leisure, and preferred highly to listen. This would be the case all the way until late teenhood, as it were. During this time too, he picked up several more instruments, the saxophone primarily, in addition to dabbling in guiltar, horns, and percussion.
During this time of growth, the seeds for his own composition and musical asperations were purely planted. His own musical tastes started with punk rock with an emphasis on the late 70s British artists and the 80s American Hardcore scenes. While the musical influences may not be apparent in his current music, the DIY ethos that characterized the music and its surrounding culture still is the driving force behind the vision for Mountain Soundsystems. These years though, were consumed with skateboarding, zines, graffiti, and underground shows. Enough cannot be said about what a massive influence the skate culture had on his musical tastes, something that many miss to associate with it. The artists he was exposed to through the magazines and videos became a comprehensive dive into every type of music that was outside what would have been in the mainstream. From 70s art rock to 90s hip hop, the tastes of the people that were able to perform at the highest levels of skating were truly a huge gift. Similarly, his tastes in visual art came from this period as well, from the rough styles found in DIY to the refined modernism and pop sensibility of the purveying artistic movements in artists such as Barry Mcgee, Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzales, Mike Mills, Banksy, Peggy Honeywell, and many, others.
His first several music projects started during this time as well. While lacking in the guitar chops, or a guitar for that matter, he turned instead to exploring synthesizers in order to create music of his own. This was a long process, and the music from this time likely will not see the light of day. It can only really be described as Gary Numan, meets Suicide (an iconic 70s punk duo), meets electronic noise rock. Starting with exploring only a Yama Portasound and Casio Sk-1 (still in his possession) he then got a microKorg and began a fascination with aural textures and electronic synthesis. Its conjecture with physics and math made it an especially intriguing concept, being able to drive composition with these novel approaches.
This is where the next stage of Mountain Soundsystem’s journey really takes shape, college. It was here where the fruits of his practice began to take shape, he was fortunate enough to be able to attend school on a music scholarship in jazz. While having zero experience here, the classical training he’d received was enough for the director to take a chance, something that was perhaps not the best decision from their perspective. Jazz came incredibly default at first, and its concepts and tonal voices were something for which he was ill-prepared and unaccustomed. Major gratitude is given to his teach there, a former bandmate of a member of the Funkadelic before they had even formed. He was able to open his mind to how to explore improvisation and how to listen and experience jazz. While his skills while at school remained rather rudimentary, these lessons have lived with him still, and he has become an accomplished jazz performer and teacher outside of this project, Mountain Soundsystems.
Outside of school, this period also was filled with a much different genre and tone. Here he cultivated his songwriting and ear for compositions with several bands, notably an indie rock supergroup and a psychedelic rock trio created with his friends and musical associates. He also would fill in for other bands in the area and would perform sporadically at local shows or house parties. Though none of his own bands at the time ever left the practice room, these recordings are still cherished and spawned the start of what is now an all-encompassing fascination with audio engineering and production. If it weren’t for a close friend giving him a bootleg copy of a popular music production suite, Mountain Soundsystems might never have come to be. It would be a long time however before anything noteworthy would come of it.
After, there was a long period where he never performed and rarely practiced. Time here was mostly spent on the road, either on friends couches, working music festivals, or being out in the woods. While these times were lean, they certainly were the most impressionable, his only possessions being a backpack and acoustic guitar. This transient life offered the ability to begin working to help support the industry, as a security guard for music festivals. Some of the most fantastic opportunities came from here. As fate would have it, it offered a way to experience the production side of music festivals firsthand during their set up, their opportation, and also mingle backstage during the show. It is a blessing for all the amazing arists, people, and fans he was able to meet during this time. These experiences were once in a lifetime and, as always, are fleeting.
This time also provided a sense of being able to help the community with firsthand providing harm reduction. Though never busting anyone, he was able to assist with people have drug crises, injury, or personal issues. Regrettably too, while the festival scenes is one of such positivity, occasionally violence breaks out and is something that there is an obligation to help contain as a fan. He first became exposed to the rave scene and PLUR culture right before leaving for school, and though loving late-night underground raves and techno, he never expected it to have the influence it did. While working these festivals, he was also able to coordinate with harm reduction groups and others there to help people safely enjoy their free expression of their bodies and minds. Beyond just music festivals, he was able to become in touch with deeper communities that have remained obfuscated to many such as regional burns or the national gatherings. All of which had a resounding feeling of ‘ Welcome Home’.
All of these things distilled and consolidated for many years, until finally, the realization was made that being able to contribute to these artistic collectives and community as a whole was what he had been seeking to do all of this time, and that he was uniquely positioned to do so through music. This launched a journey around the United States, Mexico, and Canada. A road trip seasons long, seeing nature. It was obvious too that each place offered such a fresh perspective, but he knew one thing… That wherever he ended up, there had to be mountains.
From Appalachia to the Rockies to the Sierra Nevadas and back again, he searched for a new home to launch this project and nurture its humble beginnings. Once he passed over the Cascade ranges in Northern Washington, Seattle became the home base to launch what would become Mountain Soundsystems. There is something about the Pacific Northwest, beyond just the visually dazzling mountain peaks. There is this mindstate that nature brings out here, a huge expanse feeling as though it is outside of time itself. The Olympic Peninsula across Cascadia, the Central Basin to Okanogan Highlands to its Volcanic Peaks. Washington and every inch of the Pacific Northwest was a fantastic and inspirational mystery. Every day was a beautiful one to gaze out at Rainier.
In 2016, after moving to Seattle, he launched the first music project which would later become Mountain Soundsystems in late 2019. While in Seattle, he became immersed in the local music scene, through local shows and gigs of his own and began navigating the dense, and somewhat inaccessible network of Seattle’s music scene. It was through here that once again he found himself festival life and the renegade rave scenes as though the thread had never been cut through all of these places. It was then that he began curing shows and bills throughout the Pacific Northwest while developing his sound. In 2019, Mountain Soundsystems was formed and released its first single early the following year, followed by shows. It has now reached a point where Mountain Soundsystems is able to take the live electronic music and event curation nationwide as he expands in the exploration and expression of the form.
Mountain Soundsystems has been featured in international magazines, numerous playlists and blogs, played festivals, and performed throughout the Pacific Northwest and country. He is hopeful to continue to expand these live experience audio-visual productions to help elevate and expand people’s copiousness and tastes for event experiences and music. Thank you to everyone who has listened to this music and helped on my creative journey. My only hope is to be able to give this back tenfold to a community that has provided so much.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The first real struggle was landing my first gig in Seattle, WA. After almost a year of trying to find a way into the music scene there, eventually, in 2018, there was an opening for an artist that couldn’t make it to a gig and I was reached out to by an acquaintance at Seattle Synthwave! From there, I have been so thankful for all the doors that have been opened and the fantastic people I have met.
Gigging in 2020-2022 had been a challenge as well, but very excited for upcoming shows and festivals in 2023!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As Mountain Soundsystems, I am known as a multi-genre electronic artist that explores bass music and uptempo with the live shows being characterized by a live electronic setup, psychedelic visuals, and visual performances. As part of the production company and label Slope Productions, we work to create cutting-edge, organic electronic shows and visionary experiences from Cascadia to Appalachia.
I am most proud of my currently unreleased tracks (coming soon 2023!), where I finally have explored some genres of personal interest, namely deep techno and drum and bass. Getting to experience the new styles and flavors that have emerged in my home here in Tennessee has been extremely invigorating and exciting.
What is in developing new is an entirely new live set, with music, a projection show, a laser show, and environment fixtures to heighten an expansive mindset and definition of what electronic music can offer. Also, will be having the first of a series of Mountain Soundsystems DJ sets!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Learning opportunities are everywhere, don’t limit yourself to one person, one mentor, one style, or one way of thinking. I have learned just as much from professional studio engineers as I have from random people on the internet.
Look for an opportunity to make a splash in your local scene, give back there first and get your roots strong. Having the fundamental base together will make all the difference in how long and how far you are able to go.
Also, for those so inclined, get classical music training, both in playing and in arrangement and theory. Whether a musician yourself or working as a producer, this is invaluable in understanding the larger picture.
Contact Info:
- Website: mountainsoundsystems.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mountain_soundsystems
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/thecoolmmmband
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mtnsoundsystems
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzOKOJtqT7T39JJ6ce1WPyQ
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mountainsoundsystems
- Other: thecoolmmmband.epk.fm
Image Credits
Mountain Soundsystems
